[Glorantha] Re: Glorantha Digest, Vol 12, Issue 453

[Donald R. Oddy]

In message <771978fc0611150508u4d6fc0b3j27ff000a3ba0898a at mail.gmail.com> Roger writes:
>Donald:
>
>Just where are these cults defined in HQ, the Hero's Book or ILH1?
>> There's a sample character for Irippi Ontor in the Hero's Book
>> but that's all.
>
>Not true - HB gives full character sheets including lists of feats for YT,
>D, and IO  - which gives you all the info you would get in a full theist
>keyword if you are willing to do a little reverse engineering.

Well yes, if you include brief lists intended to give an idea of 
what a particular cult can do. They certainly aren't proper
definitions of the cult magic.

>So ILH2 contradicts not only HQ, HB and ILH1 but itself.
>
>You can handwave it all away as down to the wonderful multivariousness of
>the Lunar Way  (in fact what other choice do we have?) but  to me it looks
>rather like a last minute change added without thinking through all of the
>implications.

I won't dispute that the concept of Lunar magic has changed between
the release of HQ and ILH2. Indeed there were changes between HQ
and ILH1. However that's a consequence of people investigating and
discussing ideas as they filled them out. I doubt if there is any
world (not even the real one) where more study of something doesn't
cause the student to change their view. 

I don't think the mixed magic change was last minute at all. It
appears in ILH1 with the Seven Mothers cults having a mixture of
feats and charms although the idea that most Lunar cults use
multiple types is new. More likely the couple of discrepancies
you point out are a failure to cross check every possible part.
If you've ever written anything major you'd know how easy it is
for that to happen. With multiple contributors it must be ten 
times worse.

It might be nice for us to be able to work with a complete and
unchanging understanding of Glorantha but it's never happened
and I doubt it ever will.

-- 
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/